An article on Yahoo Sports has highlighted the latest antics of the famous Green Men in Vancouver, who have chosen to taunt Carrie Underwood in their latest Canuck conversion cut-out attacks. They’re quick to point out that they don’t have anything against Underwood, and that they’re just poking fun at the fact that she’s happily married to the opposition. Glen Healy on the Hot Stove during a Hockey Night in Canada segment commented that the Green Men should not touch the glass anymore during games (see article here: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Carrie-Underwood-joins-Vince-Vaughn-as-Green-Men?urn=nhl-wp3857[1])

This proves the point that the CBC is out of touch and old. The CBC doesn’t seem to understand that hockey fans are fun-loving people. We like antics, bloopers, snide comments, sarcasm, outbursts and just plain silliness when it comes to the world of sports. It’s not world politics, after all. The Green Men, for the most part, make us laugh because they’re harmless, irreverent and they genuinely love their team. They may love to dress up the opponents fans in Canucks jerseys to poke some fun at them, but they’re not a threat. And besides a few bruised egos, what’s the worst that they can do?

And they haven’t started chucking pastries at anyone yet, so let’s all just calm down.

A comment on the comments left on the Puck Daddy post- how is this sick? How do decent sports fan conduct themselves? Do they drink tea and clap politely when their team scores? Do they quietly explain strategy to other fans and then gasp every time someone hits the boards? Heavens! Gracious! Dear me!

Now that we got the joke out of the way, let’s look at the second round. Round one was fairly predictable- most of the favoured to win did exactly that, with the exception of Nashville who stunned Anaheim and Tampa Bay who ousted the favoured Pens. Round two has proven to be a tricky one so far, with San Jose taking a commanding lead over Detroit (really? Detroit?), Tampa Bay up 2 games over Washington and Boston leading Philadelphia. Nashville and Vancouver are locked at a game each, with Nashville playing its boring undynamic game and Vancouver seemingly falling asleep watching them.

Philadelphia and Detroit seem to be suffering power outages, as they are definitely the stronger team on paper than Boston and San Jose. But in a playoff season with old foes overcoming their past demons, Boston is looking to get redemption against Philadelphia after their incredible comeback last season. But Boston has to keep in mind how late their comeback was last season and keep on their toes against Philly. Detroit and San Jose also have some history, most of it going against the California dreaming team. Is the Detroit machine showing some cracks? They weren’t dominant in their last two outings and Howard seems to be have some serious territorial issues in his crease.

Tampa Bay and Nashville are not playing better than Washington and Vancouver- they are playing smarter. They are getting less shots but better ones, they are making less mistakes and less turnovers in their end, and their defense is organized. While the Caps and Canucks huff and puff and try to blow the house down, the Lightning and the Preds are cycling and making good use of their energy. The frustration factor is going to be huge in the next few games if the two teams don’t learn how to adapt their game styles and play smarter.Vancouver needs to show more patience with the puck and someone has to poke the Sedins awake.

Hats off to Tampa Bay’s coach Guy Boucher with his scary scar on the side of his face which makes him look like a B film villain. His war of words against the Caps has been to kill them with kindness. Kindness? That’s right. He’s taken a page right out of the passive-aggressive mother’s handbook and is talking as if his team would be lucky to score a goal- despite their dominant lead. It’s like the old Chinese mother who insults her best dish before serving it to guests. It’s brilliant and it just might work in the way that trash-talking can’t. If his team completes a full sweep of the Caps, it’s going to be a gigglefest heading to the post-game media scrum, just to see if he continues his helpless Hannah routine. A definite hocky funny.